557 MT of coal production in FY 2013

New Delhi: Government Thursday said the country produced over 557 million tonnes (MT) of coal in the just-concluded fiscal, a growth of 3.2 percent over FY'12.

"Country’s coal production in the recently concluded financial year 2012-13 has reached 557.45 million tonnes, registering a growth of 3.2 percent over the previous year," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said during a conference.

He also said the supply of coal to power utilities in FY 2013 was at 344 MT, registering a growth of 1 percent over the previous year.

"Coal supply to NTPC also registered an impressive growth rate of 14.81 percent over the previous year," he said.

Jaiswal added that the task force formed to work out the policy issues of coal beneficiation may submit its findings shortly.

He also stressed the need to make coal more environment friendly with proper planning and implementation right from conceptual stage.

"Coal is the main stay of our energy and would continue to play critical role for quite some time in our future energy plans and providing energy security. It should be our endeavour to make this fuel clean for efficient use in different sectors," Jaiswal added.

The coal firms, he said, should work to address issue of additional washery capacities, adding that the washing of coal fetches better value of the product.